ABS published a Guide for ‘Enhanced Shaft Alignment’ to provide direction to owners and operators who are to perform a more detailed shaft alignment analysis and installation assessment. Mainly, the vessels that are designed, built and operated in compliance with the requirements of this guide, may be assigned to Class Notation ESA or ESA+.

Activity in the Dutch maritime technology sector, increased slightly in 2018. Total turnover rose to €7.3 billion, about €400 million more than 2017. The total employment was 29,072 FTEs, which marks an expansion of about 4% compared to 2017. Bas Ort, chair of the trade association Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT), noted that many new orders were received and ships completed in the Netherlands during 2018.

ONE announced that ONE APUS, with a carrying capacity of 14,000 TEU, was successfully delivered at Kure Shipyard of Japan Marine United Corporation. The ship will be used n East Coast 4 service, under THE Alliance. ONE APUS is also equipped with the world’s first ‘dual rating system’ technology in the main diesel engine. A wide window is also adopted for widened visibility, helping the view of ship operators from the wing of the vessel’s bridge when berthing and unberthing.

Thousands of union members at Hyundai Heavy Industries voted in favor of a wage agreement with management, as the company reported a net loss widened to 572.3 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2017, from 351.8 billion won in the red a year earlier, due to declining order backlogs.

Fincantiery announced that it completed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of 50% of the share capital of STX France from the French State, represented by the Agence des Participations de l’Etat. The agreement between the two companies is subject to the closing of the transaction between the French State and STX Europe and to customary conditions.

The head of the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) said the export credit agency will continue to enforce its plans to further restructure the ailing shipbuilding and shipping industries in the country in the last years.

China ranked first in three indices measuring the development and the capacity of a country’s shipbuilding industry in 2017, with completion rate of ships reaching 41.9% of the global total, while the country also had 45.5% of global new orders and 44.6% of holding orders.

South Korean Hyundai Merchant Marine plans to double its size fleet by 2022, as part of a long-term development plan, as announced by President & CEO C.K. Yoo in his New Year message. The plan is fully aligned with the company’s recently announced ambition to create a 22,000 TEU shipbuilding plan.